Coated object and method of making the same.



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terial.

STATES PATENT curios.

LEO 1. BAEKELAND, or YONKEBS, NEW YORK.

COATED OBJECT METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

To all whom it may. concern:

Be it known that I, Lao H. BAEKELAND, a. citizen of the United States, resitling at Yonkers, in the county of \Vestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Coated Ob'ects and Methods of Making Same, of whlch the following is a specification. The insoluble, infusible condensation products of phenols and formaldehyde have been proposed as a protective coating for articles like pipes, tanks, bolts and other pieces of machinery. It has been proposed to apply these substances as incomplete reaction products of phenols and formaldehyde, with or without suitable condensing agents, which by proper application of heat, or heat and ressure, can be transformed into the insoluble, infusible condensation products.

This method,.simple as it appears, has many Furthermore, a shock or knock may produce cracking or chipping of the surface. In

order to avoid this undue shrinkage andin order to insure more perfect adherence, I distribute stresses by interposing, before the act of polymerization, such materials as do not contract, and yet will act as protecting agents as long as they are held together by the binding mass of'infusible condensation products of phenols and formaldehyde.

The shrinkage of the unmixed condensa tion product in undergoing polymerization is appr. ximately one per cent, and is sufiicient in the case of a layer applied to metal to produce such stresses as may induce cracking or separation. By incorporating certain inert materials this contraction is reduced proportionately to the amount of inert materials used. Furthermore, the stresses are distributed more evenly, occurring only in those portions of the binding material which lie between adjacent particles of filling ma- For example, a composition consisting of parts of a partial condensation product of phenol and formaldehyde intiof the phenol Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Ja 24 1911. Application filed November 22, 1909. Serial No. 529,377.

mately associated with 40 parts of ground flint and 2 parts of fine asbestos, has been found to be free from the objections before referred to.

In order to carry out my intention, I can utilize any incomplete condensation product of phenols and formaldehyde, which is transformable into the final insoluble, infusible condensation product of phenols and formaldehyde. ing it on the surface, I mix with it an inert fibrous, cellular, granular, or pulverulent substance, as for instance, finely ground asbestos, glass, sand, emery, corundum, graphite, clay, cornish stone, oxid of iron, or other similar suitable substances. ()r again, I can very advanta eously use for this purpose, in case it is desired to avoid the addition of foreign materials, the final insoluble, infusible condensation product itself, preliminarily reduced to powder and mixed with the partial condensation product as described above, transformed into the final insoluble, sible condensation product.

In my process, I may apply the partial condensation products in the form of a varnish, by adding to them a suitable amount of a volatile solvent, which thus facilitates distribution and drying. In whatever way the application has been made, the hardening o the protective coating, or transformation into the insoluble, infusible condensation product, is carried out by the known means, for instance, the application of heat, or the application of heat and pressure.

For metallic objects it may to submit them first to a pickling or acid treatment, so as to start out with a clear unoxidized metallic surface.

Instead of applying the partial condensation products in liquid form, they can-be applied in solid or pulverized form by'dusting on or an other suitable means, then afterward me ting them on to the surface which has to be protected.

In all above mentioned methods,

infuthe hardening can be accelerated by the addition of suitable condensing agents, as for instance, acids, salts or bases.

In the above specification, as well as in the following claims, the word phenols is meant to designate not only the first member group, but its homologues and isomers, .or phenolic bodies, or mixtures thereof, which are equivalent in this reacand which can be But before applybe preferable tioni in vthe same .way, the polymers 'of- I other objects from the influence of chemicals formaldeh de, or other substances which engender ormaldehyde, may be used as an equivalent to formaldehyde.

In order to reduce or modify the peculiar odor of these condensation able bodies may be added.

I claim 1. As a new article of manufacture, a

products, suitmetallic or other object the surface of which is protected by a layer consisting of an insoluble and infusible condensation product of phenol and formaldehyde containing a finely-subdivided inert material distributed.

through the condensation product in proportion to reduce the shrinking stresses of this I layer to a degree sufiicient to insure adherence of the layer. 2. A method of protecting metallic or and atmospheric agents, which consists in applying to the surface of said objects, a layer containin a artial condensatwn roduct of phend ls and formaldehyde, transormable into the final insoluble and infusible condensation products of phenols and formaldehyde, in conjunction with a, filling material which reduces the shrinking stresses occurring during the hardening process, and finally hardening this layer by suitable means.

"In testimony whereof, I aflix my signaturein presence of two witnesses.

- LEO H. BAEkELAND.

Witnesses:-

H. S. TARBELL, MARY L. SHORT. 

